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ATTIC
File Library Version Control System
Version 1.01
ATTIC Copyright (c) 1989, 1990 RLH Data Corp
All Rights Reserved
Some of the terms used in this document are trademarks
of the following firms: IBM, Microsoft, Novell.
ATTIC Registration
ATTIC is IBM PC shareware. It is made available to you on a
10 day trial basis. If you find Attic useful you can obtain
printed documentation and a single system program license by
sending $39 to:
Roger Hering
11956 Bernardo Plaza Dr.
Suite 319
Rancho Bernardo, CA 92128
By sending $49 you will receive the above plus the next
release of Attic.
ATTIC may not be changed or modified in any way without
written consent of the author.
ATTIC may be freely distributed on a non-commercial basis
for the ten day trial period as long as it remains in its
complete form. Regardless of how the copy is obtained,
it is requested that all users comply with the registration
procedure. Distribution of ATTIC on a for profit basis
is strictly prohibited.
Any suggestions or comments can be mailed directly to me at
the address above or sent to me via
MCI Mail: ID# 375-7929.
Compuserv: ID# 70501,352
ATTIC is provided AS IS without any warranty, expressed or
implied, including but not limited to fitness for a
particular purpose.
Roger L. Hering - February 24, 1990
TABLE OF CONTENTS
SUMMARY............................................. 1
SECTION 1 Getting Started......................... 2
Hardware and Software Requirements.............. 2
Installation.................................... 2
Terminology..................................... 3
Accessing Attic................................. 4
Navigating Around............................... 4
Creating a Library.............................. 5
Adding Files to a Library....................... 5
Adding Files using Wildcards................ 6
Extracting a Text............................... 6
SECTION 2 Advanced Options......................... 9
Processing Collections of Files................. 9
Defining a Current Selection - SELECT....... 10
Version Mode................................ 11
Defining and Maintaining Keywords........... 11
Adding Keywords......................... 12
Deleting Keywords....................... 14
Compare......................................... 15
Initial Prompts............................. 15
Viewing the Differences..................... 15
REPORT.......................................... 19
History..................................... 19
Keyword..................................... 19
Transp...................................... 22
Delete...................................... 23
Reorganize.................................. 24
APPENDIX A - Setting the Path Environment........... 25
APPENDIX B - Attic Files........................... 27
Library Files............................... 27
File Types Processed........................ 27
Summary
ATTIC is designed for those of us who don't want to
throw anything away. It provides the capability to
store multiple revisions of files in a library. These
libraries can contain one file and its revisions, or
many files and their revisions. This information can
be easily retrieved and extracted back out to a disk
file or reviewed on a screen.
A file stored in an ATTIC library is referred to as a
TEXT. A text may have one or more versions. The term
text is used to refer to any of the files stored in
the library regardless of whether they originated from
binary or ASCII disk files.
To minimize disk usage when processing ASCII files,
ATTIC stores the original version, and, as new versions
are added to the library, only the differences between
the new and old version are stored. In contrast, new
versions of binary files are added in their entirety to
the library without comparison to prior versions.
A collection of library texts can be processed at one
time by either making a selection of texts or by using
a keyword which has been previously defined.
ATTIC provides a capability to compare ASCII disk
files or library texts and display their differences,
which appear highlighted on the screen.
Optionally, a switch can be used to turn on or off
"transaction processing", which assures database
integrity of a library in the event of a power failure
or other unanticipated disruption in processing.
Most importantly ATTIC has been designed to be easy to
use. A help line outlining possible prompt responses
is displayed at the bottom of the screen and more
detailed context sensitive help is also available.
Attic
SECTION 1 Getting Started
In Section 1 of this manual, you will learn how to
install ATTIC on your system, create an ATTIC library,
add files to a library and extract them back to disk.
In the interest of getting you up and running with
ATTIC as quickly as possible, discussion of the more
advanced features is deferred to later sections.
Hardware and Software Requirements
Attic requires 512K of available memory and MS-DOS
version 3.x or higher. A hard disk drive is strongly
recommended. The software will work with a floppy disk
but it will be slower.
Installation
The ATTIC distribution diskette contains the following
files:
ATTIC.EXE - Main program.
BTRIEVE.EXE - File manager.
ATTIC.HLP - Help file.
README.DOC - Contains updated information
on Attic after the
documentation went press.
ATTIC is installed on a hard disk by copying the .EXE
and .HLP files from the distribution diskette to a disk
file subdirectory. To do this, first create a
subdirectory on your hard disk and then copy the files
from the distribution diskette into the newly created
subdirectory. As an example, this can be accomplished
by entering the following at the C:\ root directory
prompt.
MD UTIL
CD UTIL
COPY A:*.exe
COPY A:*.HLP
This will create a subdirectory called C:\UTIL, and
copy all of the required files into it. ATTIC can then
be run by typing C:\UTIL\ATTIC. The name of the ATTIC
directory used in the above example was UTIL. It could
have been any valid MSDOS path name.
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Attic
It is suggested that you either copy the distribution
diskette files to a subdirectory already included in
your autoexec.bat path environment specification, or
you update your autoexec.bat path variable to include
the subdirectory holding ATTIC. See Appendix A for
instructions on how to do this. This will allow you to
run ATTIC by simply typing ATTIC.
The only restriction on ATTIC installation is that the
three files ATTIC.EXE, BTRIEVE.EXE and ATTIC.HLP must
all reside in the same subdirectory.
Terminology
In this document and in the ATTIC software the
following terms have specific meanings:
TEXT, VERSION, and DISKFILE
When a diskfile is added to an ATTIC library it is
referred to as text. A text may have one or more
versions in the library. The first version added to
the library is version 1, the second version is version
2, etc... The term text is used to refer to all of
the versions of a file in a library.
Text is not used to indicate the type of file that is
stored in the library. Binary files such as
spreadsheets, programs or data files, when added to an
ATTIC library, are referred to as texts, as are ASCII
files.
The term diskfile is used to describe a file which is
external to an ATTIC library. The copy of a diskfile
stored in an ATTIC library is referred to as a library
text.
For example, if you use your favorite word processor
and create a file called memo.doc you can add that
diskfile memo.doc to an ATTIC library. The copy that
is in the library is referred to as a text called
memo.doc version 1. The diskfile memo.doc remains
unchanged. You can then use your word processor and
make changes to diskfile memo.doc. The text memo.doc
that is in the library is now different than the
diskfile memo.doc. ATTIC can then be used to add
diskfile memo.doc to the library again. The library
will then contain text memo.doc with two versions
__
(versions 1 & 2). You can then continue to make
changes to the diskfile memo.doc and add the new
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Attic
versions to the library. ATTIC can be used to extract
any prior version of text memo.doc back out to a
diskfile.
Accessing Attic
ATTIC is accessed by entering the following at the MS-
DOS prompt:
x:\pathname\ATTIC [zzzzzz]
where x:\pathname\ is the drive and pathname
containing the ATTIC program and zzzzzzz is an optional
pathname of an existing library or the pathname of a
library you wish to create. The filename portion of
the pathname is limited to 7 characters, and any
extension given with the filename is ignored. If a
library name is not entered then ATTIC prompts for it
when it starts.
The following are all examples of valid startup
commands:
1. ATTIC
2. C:\UTIL\ATTIC
3. C:\UTIL\ATTIC C:\TESTAREA\TESTLIB
4. C:\ATTIC\ATTIC C:\TESTAREA\TESTLIB.DAT
Example 1 Assumes the ATTIC programs are in the
current directory or the PATH
environment variable has been set to
include the ATTIC path, (see appendix
A). Upon entry ATTIC will prompt for
the desired library name.
Example 2 Will access the ATTIC program in the
C:\UTIL directory and prompt for the
desired library.
Example 3 Is the same as example 2 except the
library TESTLIB is opened in directory
C:\TESTAREA.
Example 4 Has the same effect as example 3 since
the .DAT extension on the library name
is ignored.
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Attic
Navigating Around
To select an ATTIC option from the menu command line,
move the cursor by pressing the left and right arrow
keys to highlight the desired option and press ENTER.
Alternatively you may enter the first initial of an
option name to run a desired option. Press the ESC key
or select the EXIT option to exit ATTIC and return to
MS-DOS.
When running any ATTIC option the ESC key can be used
to back out of any prompt sequence.
For most prompts there is a help banner at the bottom
of the screen indicating the possible responses.
Additionally, pressing the help key, F10, provides more
detailed help information.
Creating a Library
If a library name is not entered on the MS-DOS command
line ATTIC will prompt for it. The filename portion of
the library name can be no longer than 7 characters
and, if any file extension is entered, it is ignored.
If the library cannot be found, ATTIC prompts for
whether you wish to create it. Responding with a Y
creates the library. (see appendix B for a description
of the ATTIC library files)
Adding Files to a Library
Select the ADD option from the main menu, and you are
prompted with the following:
Read from which files ?
:
Enter the filename or full pathname of a file you wish
to add to the library. If a version of the file
already exists in the library then the date stamp on
the diskfile is checked to ensure that it is greater
than the library version. If the disk file is a later
revision or there are no prior revisions in the
library, you are prompted with:
Comment:
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Attic
Enter an optional comment to be stored with the
version. This comment can be up to 64 characters long
and is displayed in the HISTORY report. Press ENTER to
continue without adding a comment (or press ESC to
return to the main menu and abort the addition of the
file to the library).
The diskfile is now copied into to the library, and the
following message is displayed on the screen.
1 file(s) have been added enter <cr> to
continue :
Press ENTER to continue and proceed back to the main
menu.
Adding Files using Wildcards
The prompt, Read from which files ?, described above
can be responded to using the MSDOS wildcards * or ? in
the filename or extension portion of a pathname. The ?
character means that any character can occupy that
position in the filename. The * wildcard character
means any character can occupy that position OR any of
the remaining positions in the filename or extension.
examples:
c:\test\*.doc - processes all files in the
c:\test directory with a
.doc extension
a*.doc - processes all files in the
current directory starting
with the letter a.
?.* - processes all one character
files in the current directory.
When adding files using wildcards you have 3 options in
how to handle comments. You can add a single comment
which will be stored with each text added, be prompted
individually for comments for each file, or skip
comment entirely.
In response to the S,D,N ? prompt, enter S to be
prompted for a single comment that will be stored with
all texts. Enter D to be prompted for a different
comment for each text, and enter N to skip the entry of
comments for any of the texts.
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Attic
Extracting a Text
Texts can be extracted from a library based upon a
current selection, keyword, or text name and version
number.
This section describes the process of retrieving a
stored text using a text name and version number. The
topics of current selection and keywords are described
in the second section of this document and the
discussion of extracting texts using these options is
deferred until then.
To extract a text from the library, select the XTRACT
option from the main menu. The following prompt
appears:
Extract by Current Selection, Keyword or Text = <cr>
Enter T or press ENTER to select extraction by text
name. You are then prompted with the following:
TEXT:
Enter the name of the text you desire to extract out to
disk. (To review the names of texts stored in the
library, press F9. Press ESC to return.)
You are then prompted with the following:
Version <cr> = last:
Enter the version number you desire to extract or press
ENTER to select the latest version in the library. You
are then prompted with the following:
Output file <cr = *.*>:
Enter the full pathname or filename to use to store the
extracted text or press ENTER to write the text to a
file in the current directory with the same name as the
library text. If the library text name is memo1.doc,
the *.* default creates a file memo1.doc in the current
directory.
The wildcard * can be used in the filename or extension
sections of a pathname. It is substituted with the
respective text name or text extension name in the
output filename. Additionally the # wildcard can be
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Attic
used to define the extension. This is substituted with
the version number being extracted.
For example, if the text being extracted is memo1.doc,
version number 7 then the following output file
specifications will have the given result:
Specification Output File
demo.doc demo.doc
*.* memo1.doc
extract.* extract.doc
*.# memo1.7
After the output file specification is entered, ATTIC
extracts the specified text. If the output file already
exists on disk, a warning is given and you are
requested to confirm whether to overwrite the existing
file. Enter Y to overwrite the existing file with the
extracted library text or press N to skip the
processing of the file.
-8-
Attic
SECTION 2 Advanced Options
Processing Collections of Files
The following table outlines the ATTIC operations that
can process a collection of texts as defined by a
current selection or keyword.
OPERATION KEYWORD CURRENT VERSION
SELECTION SPECIFIC
XTRACT X X X
DELETE X
HISTORY REPORT X X
KEYWORD X X
The version specific column above identifies the XTRACT
and KEYWORD menu options as functions which operate on
one or more versions of a text depending upon the
setting of the VERSION MODE, (see Version Mode below).
In contrast, the DELETE and HISTORY REPORT options
process all versions of the selected texts. In other
words, the DELETE option cannot be used to delete a
specific version of a text. It deletes all versions of
a given text.
A current selection is defined through the use of the
SELECT main menu option . A current selection can be
redefined during an ATTIC session to process different
groups of texts. Exiting ATTIC erases any current
selection that has been defined.
If it is desired to save a current selection of texts
from one ATTIC session to another, a keyword can be
assigned to a current selection. This keyword can then
be used to XTRACT or generate a HISTORY report for the
previously defined current selection.
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Attic
Defining a Current Selection - SELECT
A current selection of texts is defined by choosing the
SELECT option from the main menu.
Upon entry into this option the screen will display the
names of all the texts in the library. Each name is
preceded by a number which indicates how many versions
of the text reside in the library.
A selection is made by moving the cursor to the desired
text and pressing +. To unselect a text press - . To
select all the texts in a library press F1, to unselect
all the texts in the library press F2 . Pressing F3
will toggle all existing selections; i.e. text selected
will be unselected and text unselected will be
selected.
The cursor can be moved around the screen by pressing
the arrow keys. If multiple screens exist, the page up
and page down keys can be used to jump from one page to
another. Alternatively if a text name is entered, the
cursor will jump to the entered text.
While in the SELECT option a highlighted text can be
reviewed on the screen by pressing F4. This will
prompt for the version number you desire to view.
However, pressing ENTER selects the latest version.
The version is then retrieved from the library and
displayed on the screen. You can scroll through the
text by pressing the page up, page down or arrow keys.
The END key will jump to the end of the text and the
HOME key to the beginning. To return to the SELECT
screen press ESC.
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Attic
Version Mode
The SELECT process is used to select texts for
subsequent processing. The XTRACT and KEYWORD options,
however, operate upon individual versions of texts.
The actual version(s) of selected texts which they
process is governed by the VERSION mode setting in
effect at the time the option is run. The VERSION mode
can be set to one of the following four values:
Last - The latest version is processed.
Keywords defined with this
setting float. (see Defining
Keywords for more information).
All - All versions are processed.
Specific - A specific version number is
processed.
Current - The latest version is processed.
Keywords defined with this setting
do not float. (see Defining
Keywords).
The VERSION mode is set by selecting the VERSION sub-
menu selection under UTILITY. If SPECIFIC is chosen,
you are prompted for a version number. Upon entry into
ATTIC the default VERSION mode setting is LAST. The
LAST and CURRENT settings behave identically except
when used in the definition and maintenance of
keywords, where Last is used to define floating
keywords.
Defining and Maintaining Keywords
A keyword is a phrase of up to 23 characters which is
assigned to a collection of texts and/or versions. It
functions similarly to a current selection with one
important distinction. A current selection ceases to
exist when you exit ATTIC, but a Keyword defined in one
ATTIC session is saved and available for use in later
sessions.
There are two types of keywords, floating keywords and
keywords assigned to specific version(s) of texts.
Floating keywords are assigned to the highest version
of the text(s) to which they are associated. As new
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Attic
versions of a text are added to a library these
keywords automatically float up and assign themselves
to the new version.
Floating keywords allow you to create a keyword,
associate it with a group of texts and be assured that
when you extract library texts back out to disk, you
will always be XTRACTing the latest version of each
text. In contrast, keyword assignments to specific
version(s) of text do not automatically change as later
versions of a text are added to a library. A keyword
assigned to version 5 of a given text will always be
assigned to that version until it is manually changed.
To review keywords that have been defined use the
KEYWORD sub-menu function under the REPORT menu option
(see REPORT).
Adding Keywords
To add a keyword use the SELECT option to create a
current selection of texts. Then set the VERSION mode
using the VERSION sub-menu function in the UTILITY
option to one of the following settings:
Last - Keywords defined with this
setting float and associate
with the highest version of the
selected texts.
All - Keywords are assigned to all
versions of the selected texts.
Specific - Keywords are associated with a
specific text.
Current - Keywords are associated with the
highest version of the selected
texts. This association does not
float to later versions as they
are added.
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Attic
After selecting the texts and setting the VERSION mode,
select the KEYWORD option from the main menu and choose
the ADD sub-option. You will be prompted with the
following:
Enter the keyword to be associated with the selected texts:
Enter a keyword phrase up to 23 characters long. This
keyword will be associated with the selected texts
based upon the Version mode setting. Enter ESC to exit
the ADD function and return to the main menu.
After the keywords are added, the system will display a
count of the number of versions the keywords have been
associated with.
The following table describes the effect of adding
keywords with varying VERSION mode settings. The
example assumes three texts have been selected, A, B
and C. Text A has 5 versions, B has 2 versions, and C
has 3 versions.
VERSION TEXT A TEXT B TEXT C TOTAL
MODE 5 Versions 2 Versions 3 Versions ADDED
-------------------------------------------------------
ALL 5 2 3 10
LAST 1 1 1 3
CURRENT 1 1 1 3
SPECIFIC (2) 1 1 1 3
SPECIFIC (4) 1 0 0 1
The first column indicates the version mode setting.
The second, third and fourth columns indicate the
number of keyword associations made when a keyword is
added. Column five is the total number of associations
made.
With the VERSION mode setting on ALL, 10 keyword
associations are made, one or each of the versions in
all the selected texts. When the setting is on LAST or
CURRENT, 3 keyword associations are established. With
the SPECIFIC setting, the number of associations made
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Attic
is dependent upon the version number specified. In
this case, when version number specified is 4, only one
keyword association is made because text A is the only
selected text with a version 4. In contrast, when the
specified version number is 2, a keyword association is
made with version 2 of each of the three selected
texts.
Deleting Keywords
The process of deleting keywords is similar to the
process of adding keywords except you specify a range
of keywords to delete. First use the SELECT option to
create a collection of texts whose keywords you wish to
delete. Set the Version mode using the VERSION sub-
menu option in the UTILITY menu option to the
appropriate setting. Set the VERSION mode to LAST, to
delete floating keywords, or set the mode to ALL, to
delete version specific keywords. Setting the mode to
ALL will not delete floating keywords and setting it to
LAST will not delete version specific keywords.
You can use the CURRENT or SPECIFIC version mode
settings, however their usefulness is limited. The
CURRENT setting will attempt only to delete version
specific keywords which are associated with the latest
version of a text. For example, if you used the
CURRENT setting when adding a keyword and then added a
new version of the text to the library, you cannot use
CURRENT to delete the keyword since it is no longer
associated with the latest version of the text. The
SPECIFIC setting attempts only to remove keywords
associated with the specified version of the selected
texts.
After defining a current selection and setting the
appropriate VERSION mode setting, select the DELETE
sub-menu function under KEYWORD. You will be prompted
to enter a beginning and ending range of keywords to
delete. To facilitate the deletion of a specific
keyword, pressing ENTER at the Ending Keyword: prompt
will default the ending range to whatever was entered
as a beginning range.
After the range has been specified, the associations of
any keywords in that range with the selected text
versions are deleted. The system then displays the
number of keyword associations removed. Press ENTER to
return to the main menu.
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Attic
Compare
Initial Prompts
Select the Compare main menu option to compare two
ASCII documents and display their differences
highlighted on the screen. The documents to be
compared can reside either in a library or on disk.
After you select the Compare option, you are prompted
for the location, name, and, for library texts, the
version number for each of the documents to be
compared.
In response to the LOC prompt you can enter an L or D
to identify whether the document is located in the
library or in a diskfile. Pressing ENTER accepts the
highlighted value and pressing F1 toggles the value to
L or D.
In response to the FILENAME prompt, if the document is
located in a diskfile, type in the file pathname. If
the file is located in a library, type in the text
name. For library files, you are then prompted for the
appropriate version number. Pressing ENTER in response
to the version number prompt will select the latest
version. If other versions are desired, enter in the
desired number.
Pressing F9 at any of the above prompts will jump into
the Select screen providing a view of all the library
texts and version numbers. Pressing ESC returns you to
COMPARE.
When entering information for the second document, the
location and name defaults to the location and name
given for the first document. To enter a new document
name, press ESC to first clear the default document
name.
Viewing the Differences
After the documents to be compared have been retrieved
and analyzed, the differences are displayed in a split
screen format with document 1 on top of document 2.
The line number of the first line in each screen is
displayed along with the name of the document and, for
library texts, its version number.
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Attic
The differences on each individual line are
highlighted. The display of a section of each document
is triggered by a mismatch with the other document.
The first line in each window will always differ. The
mismatch may be the result of a change or deletion of a
line. The remainder of the window is filled in with
the subsequent lines from the respective documents.
To aid in the viewing of oversized lines the right and
left arrow keys can be used to shift the display right
or left. Pressing the down arrow key causes the next
area of differences to be displayed. At any time you
can press ESC to return to the main menu.
A word of caution. COMPARE will attempt to process
some word processing files which are not technically
ASCII files. Special characters are typically used by
many word processing programs to perform special
formatting functions. COMPARE makes no attempt to
either remove or interpret these characters. As a
result, the information displayed for these types of
files may be different from what you might expect.
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Attic
Extracting Text - Multiple File Processing
In addition to processing texts on an individual basis,
as discussed in Section 1, ATTIC can extract
collections of texts through the use of a current
selection or keyword. To extract a current selection
use the SELECT option in the main menu to define the
current selection. Then set the VERSION MODE to one of
the following values to identify the version(s) you
desire to extract.
Last - Extracts the latest version.
Current - Extracts the latest version.
All - Extracts all versions.
Specific - Extracts a specified version
number.
After the selection has been defined and the
appropriate version mode is set, select the XTRACT
option from the main menu. You will be prompted with
the following:
Extract by Current Selection,Keyword or Text = <cr>
Enter C to select extraction by the current selection.
You are then prompted with one of the following,
depending upon the VERSION mode setting:
Output file <cr = *.*>: (VERSION MODE not
equal to ALL)
Output file <cr = *.#>: (VERSION MODE = ALL)
The possible responses to these prompts are the same as
described for a single file extraction. Enter the full
pathname or filename to store the extracted text, or
press ENTER to write the text to a file in the current
directory with the same name as the library text. For
example if the library text name is memo1.doc, the *.*
default creates a file memo1.doc in the current
directory.
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Attic
The wildcard * can be used in place of either the
filename or extension in a pathname. This is
substituted with the respective text name or text
extension name in the output filename. Additionally,
the # wildcard can be used to define the extension.
This is substituted with the version number being
extracted. The # is useful when extracting multiple
versions of a single text, for it easily generates
unique output file names. For examples of output file
specifications see the discussion in Section 1 under
Extracting a Text.
After the output file specification is entered, ATTIC
extracts the current selection. If an output file
already exists, a warning is given and you are
requested to confirm whether to overwrite the existing
file. Enter Y to overwrite the existing file with the
extracted library text. Pressing N will abort the
output.
The process of extracting files based upon a keyword is
similar to the process described to process a current
selection. At the following prompt:
Extract by Current Selection,Keyword or Text = <cr>
PRESS K followed by ENTER to extract by keyword.
You will be prompted for:
KEYWORD:
Enter the previously defined keyword associated with
the texts you wish to extract. ATTIC will now prompt
you for the name of the output file(s) as is described
above for current selection processing.
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Attic
REPORT
History
ATTIC can generate a chronological history report. This
displays, for all of a text's versions, the file time
stamp, the time the version was added to the library,
and any comments entered at the time the version was
added to the library.
The text(s) to be included in the report can be defined
by keyword, current selection or entered individually.
The report can be scrolled on the screen or written to
a disk file for later review.
To generate the History report, select the HISTORY sub-
menu function from the Report main menu option. At the
following prompt:
Report History by Current Selection, Keyword,
or Text = <cr>
Enter C to report by Current Selection, enter K to
report by Keyword, enter T or press ENTER to report on
specific text.
If you have selected processing by keyword or text, you
will be prompted to enter the respective keyword or
text name. You will then be prompted with the
following:
Output to screen <N/Y=cr> :
Press Y or ENTER and the report will be scrolled to the
screen. Press N to be prompted for the name of an
output diskfile name for the report.
If you have selected output to the screen, you can
scroll the output by pressing the arrow, page up or
page down keys. Press ESC to return to the main menu.
Keyword
The Keyword report displays the keyword associations
that have been defined in a library. The report can be
sorted either by keyword or text. The output can be
scrolled to the screen or, optionally, placed in a
diskfile for later review. When displaying floating
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keywords, the report uses the term last in the place
of a number to indicate which text version the keyword
is associated with.
Sort by Keyword
To generate a Keyword report sorted by keyword, select
the KEYWORD sub-menu function in the REPORT main menu
option and you will be prompted:
Sort by Keyword or Text :
Enter K. You will be prompted to enter a range of
keywords to include in the report:
Beginning Keyword <FIRST = cr> :
Enter the beginning range of keywords that you wish to
see in the report. Press ENTER to start the range with
the first keyword in the library. You will be prompted
with:
Ending Keyword, <cr> = xxxx:
Where xxxx is a default, defined by what was entered
for the beginning range, the defaults are designed to
make it easy to generate a report for all keywords or
for a single keyword. If you simply pressed ENTER in
response to the beginning range, the default for the
ending range is the last keyword in the library. If
you entered anything for the beginning range, the
default for the ending range is the same as the
beginning range. The following prompt will now be
displayed:
Output to screen <n/y = cr> :
Enter Y or press ENTER to send the output to the
screen. Enter N to be prompted for the name of an
output file.
If the output is sent to the screen, use the arrow
keys, page up and page down to scroll through the
report.
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Sort by Text
To generate the Keyword report by text, select the
KEYWORD sub-menu function in the REPORT main menu
option and enter T to the following prompt:
Sort by Keyword or Text :
You will be prompted to enter a range of texts to
include in the report. At the following prompt:
Beginning Text <FIRST = cr> :
Enter the beginning range of texts that you wish to see
in the report. Press ENTER to start the range with
the first text in the library. You will now be
prompted with:
Ending Text, <cr> = xxxx:
Where xxxx is a default, defined by what was entered
for the beginning range. The defaults are designed to
make it easy to generate a report for all texts or for
a single text. If you simply pressed ENTER in response
to the beginning range, the default for the ending
range is the last text in the library. If you entered
anything for the beginning range, the default for the
ending range is the same as the beginning range. The
following prompt will be displayed:
Output to screen <n/y = cr> :
Enter Y or press ENTER to send the output to the
screen. Enter N to be prompted for the name of an
output file.
If the output is sent to the screen, you may use the
arrow keys, page up and page down to scroll through the
report.
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UTILITY
The following functions have been placed in the UTILITY
sub-menu:
FORCE - Adds files to a library without
comparing the date stamp on the
file with the date on the
respective library version.
TRANSP - Toggles transaction processing
on and off.
DELETE - Deletes library texts
REORGANIZE - Recovers physical space
freed as the result of text
deletions.
Force
Force adds files to a library without checking a file's
date stamp. This is in contrast to the ADD option in
the main menu which adds files to a library only if the
time stamp on a file is more recent than the time stamp
on the highest version in the library. In all other
respects FORCE performs exactly like the ADD option.
Transp
TRANSP toggles ATTIC's transaction processing on and
off. Transaction processing acts a bit like an
insurance policy. It will not guarantee that you will
not have an accident but it minimizes the amount of
pain and suffering that goes along with it.
An ATTIC library is a collection of the following 5
files.
Header - Contains text specific information.
Version - Contains version specific information.
Segment - Maintains pointers to version text.
Line - Contains library texts.
Keyword - Associates keywords with texts.
As an ATTIC library is being updated it is important
that the information in these files is maintained on a
consistent basis. If transaction processing is turned
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on, ATTIC ensures that, even in the event of a power
failure or some other interruption in processing,
either all the necessary updates to files will be
completed or none of the updates will occur. This
keeps the library files synchronized so recovery is a
simple matter of re-adding the file that was being
processed when the interruption occurred.
The default setting when you enter ATTIC has
transaction processing turned on. Why then would
anyone want to turn this feature off? The answer is
speed. There is overhead associated with transaction
processing. It is dependent upon the size of the file
but it takes about twice as long to add files to ATTIC
with transaction processing turned on.
If you have a recent backup of your disk files, you
might choose to turn transaction processing off in
situations where speed is critical, and you are adding
a large number of files and the outside weather
conditions preclude the possibility of ice, snow,
lightning or high winds. It is recommended, however,
that you generally leave it turned on.
Delete
The DELETE option can be used to delete a library text
or delete an entire library. Individual versions
cannot be deleted. When you delete a text, all of its
versions are deleted.
To delete a text, select the DELETE sub-menu function
in the UTILITY main menu option. At the following
prompt:
L, C, T ? :
Enter T and you will be prompted for the name of the
text to delete. After you enter the text name the text
will be deleted from the library.
To delete a current selection use the SELECT option to
define a current selection, then choose the DELETE sub-
menu function option in the UTILITY main menu option.
At the L,C,T ? : prompt enter C to delete the current
selection of texts. The system then deletes the texts.
To delete the current library press L at the prompt:
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L,C,T ? :
You will be asked to confirm the deletion. If you
press Y to confirm the deletion, the entire library
will be deleted and ATTIC will exit to MS-DOS.
Reorganize
The REORGANIZE option physically removes deleted texts
from a library and recovers the space that had been
allocated to them. It is suggested that you backup
your library files prior to running this function. If
the process does not run through to completion it
potentially leaves the library in an unreadable
condition.
To reorganize a library select the REORGANIZE sub-menu
function in the UTILITY main menu option. A blinking
WAIT message will appear in the upper left hand corner
of the screen. When this message is removed the
reorganization is complete.
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APPENDIX A - Setting the Path Environment
One of the more useful features of MS-DOS is the
ability to define an autoexec.bat file which contains a
definition of the PATH environment variable.
When MS-DOS is started (booted), it looks for an
autoexec.bat file in the root, top level, directory of
the boot disk. The boot disk is the device containing
the MS-DOS operating system which is copied into memory
when the system is turned on. Generally, the boot
device for a hard disk system is drive C. The root
directory for drive C is C:\.
If MS-DOS locates this autoexec.bat file it is
executed. This allows you to place commands in the
autoexec.bat file and they are executed automatically
every time you start the system.
Hierarchical directory structures are supported in MS-
DOS versions 2.0 and later. This enables us to create
directory schemes where files can be categorized and
placed in different directories.
When we type in a command to MSDOS it first looks in
the current directory to execute a file with the same
name as the command with a .bat, .com, or .exe
extension. If it doesn't find any of these files to
execute , and assuming the PATH variable (see below) is
not defined, MS-DOS comes back with an error message
which says:
bad command or file name
If however, you do have a PATH variable defined, after
searching your default directory MS-DOS will search
through all of the directories defined in your PATH
variable to find the right batch file or program to
run. If it does not find it, it will still print:
bad command or file name
But if does find the program, it executes it. So if
you define a PATH variable in your autoexec.bat startup
file which includes the ATTIC directory you can run
ATTIC simply by typing ATTIC anywhere in the system.
To edit your autoexec.bat file you must use an editor
or word processor which can edit ASCII, non-formatted
files. If you do not know about your word processor's
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capabilities, look for a section in its documentation
discussing generating ASCII or non-formatted documents.
If you have an existing autoexec.bat file in the root
directory of your hard disk, that is the file you
should edit. Check to see if it already has a line
starting with the characters PATH= . If it does, then
add to the end of that line the following:
;C:\UTIL
This example and the following example assume the
directory where the ATTIC files are located is C:\UTIL.
If the disk or pathname you used is different, make the
necessary adjustments.
If there is no PATH reference in your autoexec.bat
file, then add the following line anywhere in the file:
PATH=C:\UTIL
Leave no space between the characters on either side of
the = character. If you do not have an autoexec.bat
file, create one, making sure it is unformatted (ASCII)
and add the line above to it.
You can add multiple pathnames to the PATH variable
simply by separating the entries with semi-colons.
This should enable you to organize the programs you use
the most often so you can execute them simply by typing
their filename.
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APPENDIX B - Attic Files
Library Files
An ATTIC library consists of the following 5 files
where xxx is a library name:
xxxT.ATC - Header File
xxxV.ATC - Version File
xxxS.ATC - Segment File
xxxL.ATC - Line File
xxxK.ATC - Keyword File
All of these files must reside in the same
subdirectory. If you desire to move a library from one
place to another be sure to copy all of these files
into the new location.
File Types Processed
ATTIC can add to and extract from a library any type of
file, but the technique that is used to add a file to
a library is dependent upon the file's structure. In
general terms, binary files are added to an ATTIC
library in their entirety and ASCII files are updated
in an ATTIC library by simply storing the differences
between a file and its prior version. For ASCII files,
this saves on disk space at the expense of processing
time.
Technically, ATTIC categorizes files it adds to a
library into two categories based upon the following
test:
If a file contains lines no longer than 2,000
characters, then ATTIC processes the file by
storing the differences with the prior version.
If, however, during the update process, memory
limitations are encountered, then the file is
added to in its entirety.
Conversely, a file containing lines longer than
2000 characters is added to the library in its
entirety.
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For the purposes of this discussion a line is defined
as the characters delimited by the ASCII 10 character.
Discussion of memory limitations is a bit difficult
since it is dependent on the mix of line sizes, and the
number of lines in a file, however, a computer with
540K of available memory will process a document of
approximates 300 pages assuming a maximum line length
of 100 characters.
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Index
# 17
* 17
*.# 17
*.* 17
Add 5
ASCII 1, 3, 27
Autoexec.bat 2, 25
Binary 27
Btrieve 2
Comment 5, 6
Compare 15
Creating 5
Current selection 9
Delete library 23
Delete text 23
Diskfile
definition 3
ESC 4
Extract
multiple files 17
single text 6
version 7
F10 5
Files
ASCII 1
binary 1
Floating keywords 11
Force 22
Hard disk 2
Help 1, 5
Help key 5
History 19
output 19
Installation 2
Keyword
verification 12
Keyword associations 13
Keyword deletion 14
Keyword maintenance 11
Keyword report 19
sort by keyword 20
text sort 21
Keywords
adding 12
floating 11
version specific 11
Library name 5
Loc 15
Memory limitations 28
Memory requirements 2
Menu 4
Navigation 4
Niap.doc 2
Output file 7
Index
Overwrite 8
Attic.exe 2
Attic.hlp 2
PATH 3
Path environment 25
Reorganize 22, 24
Report
history 19
keyword 19
Running 4
Select 10
Subdirectory 2
Summary 1
Terminology 3
Text
definition 3
Transaction processing 1,
22
Transp 22
Utility 22
Version
definition 3
Version mode 11, 13
all 11, 12, 17
current 11, 12, 17
last 11, 12, 17
specific 11, 12, 17
Viewing a file 10
Wildcard
# 7, 17
* 6, 17
*.* 7
Wildcards 6
? 6
XTRACT 6, 17
